Ruben Zimmermann, «Nuptial Imagery in the Revelation of John», Vol. 84 (2003) 153-183
In this article is argued that the nuptial imagery of the Book of Revelation is not limited to chapters 19 and 21 but rather runs throughout the book. While the imagery is certainly most pronounced in the final part of the book, it also appears in the letters to the churches (bridal wreath in Rev 2,10; 3,11), in the scene depicting the 144,000 as virgins (Rev 14,4-5), and is encountered again in Rev 18,23 (silencing of the voice of bridegroom and bride) and Rev 22,17 (summons of the bride) at the end of the book. Thus the wedding metaphors can be seen as one of the structural patterns of Revelation as a whole directly in contrast to the metaphors of fornication.
is still hidden from the reader at this point and is not addressed again and answered until Rev 21,1-9 and 22,17.
The scenario that has been developed up to this point is expanded in Rev 19,9. Instead of learning about the bride, we learn about the guests invited to the banquet. In this way, the Judaic tradition of the eschatological feast is certainly taken up. The fact that the observer is commanded to put the beatitude into writing suggests that it is the church that is addressed here. The entire scene, however, does not only lay the groundwork for the vision of the celestial bride of Jerusalem, but itself, through the motifs of the great throng, voice, Lamb and chosen ones, is closely connected to the anticipatory visions in Rev 7,9-19 and 14,1-4.
V. The celestial bride Jerusalem (Rev 21,2.9)
1. The image in the context of the vision of Jerusalem
The vision of the city of Jerusalem descending from heaven in the final chapters of Rev can be divided into two sections closely connected to one another. That which appears at first only sketchily in Rev 21,1-8 is then described in detail in Rev 21,9-22,540. At the beginning of each section the celestial city is compared to and identified with a bride (Rev 21,1.9). The two sections are connected to each other to the point of their literal formulations and are arranged chiasmatically. In Rev 21,2, it is the sacred city, described as a bride only in the second part of the verse, that is seen first while in Rev 21,9-10 it is the vision of the bride of the Lamb that is first promised and what is then shown is the sacred city. Rev 21,9 takes up the thread then from Rev 19,7 with the formulation "wife of the Lamb" and makes clear, in combination with nu/mfh, that the celestial city of Jerusalem is identical to the bride of the Lamb. However, the bride is not characterized in any further detail other than her declaration and assignment to the Lamb. This is different in Rev 21,2. The sphere of images that is first introduced with the comparative particle w(j 41 is made concrete in so far as the bride is adorned (kekosmhme/nh), with
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